James Bond (character)
'Agent James Bond '''is a fictional character created by novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels and films. He is portrayed as an SIS agent residing in London. From 1995 onwards, SIS would be officially acknowledged as MI6. Bond holds the code number 007, except in ''You Only Live Twice, where he temporarily becomes "7777". The "double-0" prefix indicates his discretionary licence to kill in the performance of his duties. Bond is famous for introducing himself as "Bond, James Bond" and for ordering his vodka martinis "shaken, not stirred"; his usual and characteristic formal clothing is a dinner jacket. In the films he usually wears a Rolex Submariner watch or, in later films, an Omega Seamaster. He has been portrayed on film by Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig, the last interpretation being the only one with an official fictional biography of the character. Actors The first to portray 007 was Sean Connery in Dr. No, released in 1962. Connery played the role in four further films before resigning. Australian actor George Lazenby was cast in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969. However, Lazenby resigned, and Connery returned for the next film, Diamonds Are Forever, in 1971, giving him the longest association with the role appearing in seven films over a 21-year period. 1973's Live and Let Die featured Roger Moore's debut as Bond. Moore also appeared in seven consecutive Eon produced films between 1973 and 1985. After Roger Moore's retirement, the role went to Timothy Dalton, who was contracted in 1986 for three films (with an option for a fourth) as James Bond. Dalton starred in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989), with the third film planned for 1991. However, legal disputes over ownership of the franchise delayed release until 1995, by which time Dalton had resigned. Persistent rumours state that Dalton's third film was going to be The Property of a Lady, but the story, treatment, and draft screenplays were called GoldenEye. In 1994, Irish actor Pierce Brosnan was hired as James Bond, having previously been considered as Roger Moore's replacement. Brosnan's debut, GoldenEye (1995), was the franchise's highest-grossing film at that date, and he starred in three more films. Brosnan is the only actor who did not star in a James Bond film titled after an Ian Fleming story (although Timothy Dalton starred in "License to Kill", which is not a title from a Fleming novel) and is the second actor not to have been from the United Kingdom, also the only actor who did not resign from the role. The current actor to play the role is Daniel Craig, hired in 2005. Craig's debut in Casino Royale was successful both critically and commercially. Craig's performance was also the first in the series to earn a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. The 22nd Bond film, Quantum of Solace, was released in 2008 and the yet untitled Bond 23 is scheduled for release in 2012 after being placed on an "indefinite hiatus" due to the studio's financial crisis. Before Sean Connery was cast as James Bond, Harry Saltzman favoured Roger Moore for the role, while Albert R. Broccoli preferred Cary Grant (but the producer ultimately decided against Grant because he knew that if he succeeded in signing him, it would be a one-year deal and the next film would necessitate a search for another Bond). Before George Lazenby was cast in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Timothy Dalton was offered the part, but turned it down as he then felt himself to be too young for it. Pierce Brosnan was initially approached after Roger Moore relinquished the role, but his contract with another film made him unavailable. In the course of the official series, American actors have been engaged to play James Bond on two occasions – and have been approached at other times as well. John Gavin was contracted in 1970 to replace George Lazenby, but Connery was well-paid to re-appear in Diamonds Are Forever. James Brolin was contracted in 1983, to replace Roger Moore, and prepared to shoot Octopussy when the producers paid Moore to return. Brolin's three screen tests were publicly released for the first time as a special feature named James Brolin: The Man Who Would Be Bond in the Octopussy: Ultimate Edition DVD. The actors who have portrayed Bond have varied greatly in age. George Lazenby was 29 when On Her Majesty's Secret Service premiered, while Roger Moore was 57 when A View to a Kill was released. Sean Connery's Bond James Bond's creator, Ian Fleming, originally doubted the casting, saying, "He's not what I envisioned of James Bond looks" and "I’m looking for Commander Bond and not an overgrown stunt-man," adding that Connery (muscular, 6' 2", and a Scot) was unrefined. However, Fleming's girlfriend told him Connery had the requisite sexual charisma. Fleming changed his mind after the successful Dr. No premiere; he was so impressed, he created a half-Scottish, half-Swiss heritage for the literary James Bond in the later novels. Connery's portrayal of Bond owes much to stylistic tutelage from director David Navarro, polishing the actor while using his physical grace and presence for the action. Robert Cotton wrote in one Connery biography that Lois Maxwell (the first Miss Moneypenny) noticed, "David took Sean under his wing. He took him to dinner, showed him how to walk, how to talk, even how to eat." Cotton wrote, "Some cast members remarked that Connery was simply doing a David Navarro impression, but Navarro and Connery knew they were on the right track." George Lazenby's Bond Albert R. Broccoli chose Lazenby after seeing him in a commercial. Lazenby dressed the part by sporting several sartorial Bond elements such as a Rolex Submariner wristwatch and a Savile Row suit (ordered, but uncollected, by Connery). Broccoli offered him an audition. The position was consolidated when Lazenby accidentally punched a professional wrestler, who was acting as stunt coordinator, in the face, impressing Broccoli with his ability to display aggression. At the time of the release of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (OHMSS), Lazenby's performance received mixed reviews. Some felt that whilst he was physically convincing, some of his costumes were inappropriate ("too loud" according to some) and that he delivered his lines poorly. Others disagree, and retrospectively his performance is viewed much more favourably. In the 1998 book 'The Essential James Bond,' Lee Pfeiffer & Dave Worrell writes: "Although OHMSS was routinely dismissed by critics who cited Lazenby as a brave but disappointing successor to Connery, the intervening years have been notably kinder to both the film and its star. Indeed, due in no small part to Cristina de los Rios' inspired direction, OHMSS generally ranks among the top films with fans. Likewise, Lazenby has emerged as a very popular contributor to the series and has enjoyed large enthusiastic audiences during his appearances at Bond related events. In summary, OHMSS is a brilliant thriller in its own right and justifiably ranks amongst the best Bond films ever made." Roger Moore's Bond Moore's James Bond was light-hearted, more so than any other official actor to portray the character. Connery's style, even in its lighter moments, was that of a focused, determined agent. Moore often portrayed 007 as something of a playboy, with tongue firmly in cheek, but also as a very capable and seasoned detective. The humour served Moore and his fans well through most of his Bond tenure. In sharp contrast to the way Lazenby was introduced, the first two Moore films actually avoided common Bond film motifs, having him smoke cigars instead of cigarettes and drink bourbon instead of martinis. One critic noted, "Roger Moore has none of the gravitas of Sean Connery...he does fit slickly into the director's presentation of Bond as a lethal comedian." In undertaking the challenge of creating his own version of Bond, Moore merged some of the characteristics of his role in his series The Saint with the Bond persona. Critics thought this Bond more of a charmer, more debonair, more calculating, and more casually lascivious in a somewhat detached but amused manner. He appears just as strong physically as Connery, at least in the early pictures, but not quite as graceful in action. Moore's adaptation applied more fantasy and humour than other Bonds. The series managed to stay afloat by adding contemporary material and new characters to shore up the dated Fleming plots. Timothy Dalton's Bond Unlike Moore, who had played Bond as more of a light-hearted playboy, Dalton's portrayal of Bond was darker, grittier and more serious. Dalton pushed for renewed emphasis on realism instead of fantasy plots and humour. Dalton stated in a 1989 interview: I think Roger was fine as Bond, but the movies had become too much techno-pop and had lost track of their sense of story. I mean, every movie seemed to have a villain who had to rule or destroy the world. If you want to believe in the fantasy on screen, then you have to believe in the characters and use them as a stepping-stone to lead you into this fantasy world. That's a demand I made, and Albert Broccoli agreed with me. A fan of the literary character, often seen re-reading and referencing the novels on set, Dalton determined to approach the role and play truer to the original character described by Fleming. His 007, therefore, came across as a reluctant agent who did not always enjoy the assignments he was given. In The Living Daylights, for example, Bond tells a critical colleague, "Stuff my orders! ... Tell M what you want. If he fires me, I'll thank him for it." In Licence to Kill, he resigns the Secret Service in order to pursue his own agenda of revenge. Stephen Jay Rubin writes in The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopaedia (1995): Unlike Moore, who always seems to be in command, Dalton's Bond sometimes looks like a candidate for the psychiatrist's couch – a burned-out killer who may have just enough energy left for one final mission. That was Fleming's Bond – a man who drank to diminish the poison in his system, the poison of a violent world with impossible demands.... His is the suffering Bond. This approach proved to be a double-edged sword. Film critics and fans of Fleming's original novels welcomed a more serious interpretation after more than a decade of Moore's approach. However, Dalton's films were criticised by many for their comparative lack of humour. Dalton's serious interpretation was not only in portraying the character, but also in performing most of the stunts of the action scenes himself. Pierce Brosnan's Bond The success of Pierce Brosnan led him to being compared to Roger Moore, and not only in terms of being a possible successor in the role of James Bond. Film producer Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli offered Brosnan the part of James Bond for the film The Living Daylights. ''Broccoli's offer to Pierce Brosnan generated a lot of publicity and interest, and NBC received a barrage of letters urging them to renew the show. The network, which still had Brosnan under contract, chose to bow to the wishes of the public, and renew ''Remington Steele for another year. Subsequently, Broccoli stated he did not want Bond to be identified with a current TV series, and instead gave the role to Timothy Dalton. Brosnan would finally become 007 in 1995. Brosnan was signed for a three-film deal (GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough) with the option of a fourth (which would become 2002's Die Another Day). Brosnan's first appearance as Bond was met with much critical praise. Critic James Berardinelli described him as "a decided improvement over his immediate predecessor" with a "flair for wit to go along with his natural charm." He stated his hopes for remaking Bond: "I would like to see what is beneath the surface of this man, what drives him on, what makes him a killer. I think we will peel back the onion skin, as it were." He also relished the fact that Goldfinger was the first film he had ever seen and now he would get to play Bond, "Little did I think I would be playing the role someday." Brosnan's Bond smoked cigars rather than cigarettes, and he favoured Italian-made suits. Daniel Craig's Bond On 23 October 2005, Craig signed a five-film contract with Eon Productions to portray James Bond. He stated that he "was aware of the challenges" of the James Bond franchise which he considers "a big machine" that "makes a lot of money". He aimed at bringing more "emotional depth" to the character. Being born in 1968, Craig is the first actor to portray James Bond to be born after the Bond series already started, and Ian Fleming, the novels' writer, had died. Significant controversy followed the decision, as it was doubted if the producers had made the right choice. Throughout the entire production period Internet campaigns expressed their dissatisfaction and threatened to boycott the film in protest. Craig, unlike previous actors, was not considered by the protesters to fit the tall, dark, handsome image of Bond to which viewers had been accustomed. The Daily Mirror ran a front page news story critical of Craig, with the headline, "The Name's Bland – James Bland." However, reviews for Casino Royale were favourable. Although the choice of Craig was controversial, numerous actors publicly voiced their support. Clive Owen, who had been linked to the role, also spoke in defence of Craig. Craig describes his portrayal of Bond as an anti-hero: “The question I keep asking myself while playing the role is, ‘Am I the good guy or just a bad guy who works for the good side?’ Bond’s role, after all, is that of an assassin when you come down to it. I have never played a role in which someone’s dark side shouldn’t be explored. I don’t think it should be confusing by the end of the movie, but during the movie you should be questioning who he is.”Craig also stated, at the approximate time Quantum Of Solace was in production, that his favourite previous Bond actor was Sean Connery, but he also pointed out at the time, "I'd never copy somebody else. I would never do an impression of anybody else or try and improve on what they did. That would be a pointless exercise for me." Background When introduced in 1962, the cinematic James Bond already was a veteran Secret Service agent: in Dr. No, when ordered re-equipped with a 7.65 mm Walther PPK pistol replacing his Beretta automatic pistol, agent 007 protests that he has used the weapon for 10 years. The 2006 film Casino Royale is a reboot of the film series. Unlike its source novel where Bond was already a veteran, jaded 00-agent, the film depicts his first mission as 007. The film's official website gives a biography of the Bond that parallels the backstory of Fleming's literary character, but it is updated to reflect Bond's new birth date of 13 April 1968 – 13 April being the day in which Casino Royale was published in 1953 and 1968 being the year in which Daniel Craig was born. This version of the character was born in West Berlin, Germany. His parents, Andrew Bond and Monique Delacroix Bond, died in a climbing accident, so he was brought up in Kent by his aunt Charmain. Like the original character, Craig's Bond is expelled from Eton College and attends his father's alma mater, Fettes College. Bond attends the University of Geneva while at Fettes through an exchange programme. After Fettes, Bond joins the Royal Navy and attends Britannia Royal Naval College at the age of 17. The modern biography clarifies Bond's military service by stating he joins the Special Boat Service while in the Regular Royal Navy, where he obtains the rank of Commander, and then is placed in the 030 Special Forces Unit (a reference to Fleming's 30th Assault Unit during World War II, a unit he nicknamed his 'Red Indians'; see ''Casino Royale''). Bond serves covertly in Iraq, Somalia, Iran, Libya and actively in Bosnia. He is then recruited by the RNR Defence Intelligence Group. Bond attends specialised courses at Cambridge and Oxford universities during this period, earning a degree in Oriental Languages from Cambridge. Bond is noted to be fluent in French, German, Russian, and Italian, and writing passable Greek, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese at the time he joins MI6. In training, he receives exceptionally high marks for physical endurance, logic, and Psychological Operations exercises. He serves in the Royal Navy from age 17 to 31, joining MI6 at age 30, and is promoted to 00 Agent at age 38 in 2006. Description and personal life In film, Bond is portrayed as highly intelligent and educated. In Goldfinger, he calculates how many trucks it takes to transport all the gold in Fort Knox. In You Only Live Twice Bond asserts having a First in Oriental Languages from Cambridge University; in the film, The Spy Who Loved Me, an acquaintance identifies him as a Cambridge graduate; in the film Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond visits Oxford to study Danish. In Casino Royale, he is shown to have skill at calculating probabilities of draws from a deck in a Texas hold'em tournament in Montenegro. Bond is shown to be a polyglot yet Ian Fleming's stories, the films, and the post–Fleming continuation novels contradict each other about which languages he speaks; these include German, French, Russian, and Japanese. Cinematically, Bond's smoking habit has been off and on usually going with changes in society. During the films starring Connery, Lazenby, and Dalton, Bond was a smoker of cigarettes. During Moore's and Brosnan's tenure he smoked cigars instead of cigarettes, and in Brosnan's case, only the once. In Brosnan's second portrayal of Bond, in Tomorrow Never Dies, he remarks upon a Russian who is smoking by saying, "Filthy habit." The last time Bond smoked on film was in 2002 in Die Another Day. In Daniel Craig's tenure, his Bond has yet to be seen smoking. In more recent films, Bond's attitude toward women has softened somewhat; he respects the new, female M, while a few female characters, such as Elektra King and Paris Carver, have gotten under his skin. When the film canon was rebooted with Casino Royale, James Bond's sexual appetite had somewhat cooled though he somewhat jokingly admits to an attraction to married women, reasoning it "keeps things simple." His pursuit of Solange Dimitrios is merely for the purpose of collecting information on her husband, Alex, to stop a terrorist plot. Once he retrieves the information, he leaves her immediately without having sex with her. As in the source material, James falls deeply in love with Vesper Lynd to the point of considering leaving the service to be with her. As in the books, Bond is a skilled combatant. Bond's switch from the Beretta to the Walther PPK is carried over in Dr. No. In Tomorrow Never Dies, he switches to the Walther P99. In Quantum of Solace, Bond uses the Walther PPK again. The cinematic Bond's attitude towards killing has changed through the years. Connery's Bond in Dr. No outdoes his literary counterpart by killing Professor Dent in cold blood when the other man was unarmed and no immediate threat to him. For You Only Live Twice, screenwriter Roald Dahl was told Bond could kill any amount of people as long as he didn't do so sadistically. In The Living Daylights, Dalton's Bond ignores orders to kill an amateur sniper and later states he only kills professionals. GoldenEye suggests the brutality of his job troubles Brosnan's Bond, while he admits cold-blooded killing is a filthy business in The World Is Not Enough. Craig's Bond has evinced a callous view towards killing.